Synthesis, characterization and application of silver nanoparticles as antimicrobial agents

Abstract

The synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) has attracted the interest of many researchers in recent years, both from scientific and technological point of view. These NPs present unique physical, chemical and biological properties when compared to metal at a macroscopic scale, and have been used in applications such as catalysis, optoelectronic devices and medical area. In this context, the aim of this work was to synthesize and characterize Ag NPs and evaluate its antimicrobial efficiency against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Ag NPs were initially prepared by chemical reduction of silver ions with sodium borohydride in the presence of sodium citrate tribasic dihydrate. Then, they were characterized by molecular absorption spectroscopy in the ultraviolet and visible (UV-Vis) region and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The evaluation of antimicrobial activity of Ag NPs was performed with basis on the qualitative antibiogram method against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. In general, the UV-Vis spectra of colloidal solutions of Ag NPs (18 ppm and 1000 ppm, respectively) were very similar to each other, indicating the presence of a single band centered at approximately 400 nm, which is indicative of NPs with spherical shape. This result was corroborated by TEM analysis which showed Ag NPs with average sizes of 7.3 ± 4.3 nm (colloidal solution of 18 ppm) and 15.2 ± 7.4 nm (colloidal solution 1000 ppm). The antibiograms, in turn, revealed that only the colloidal solution of 1000 ppm showed antimicrobial activity against the two bacterial strains tested.

Key words: Nanotecnology, silver nanoparticles, antimicrobial agents.